Hand-stamp.



W. 0.'BESAW (51, A. E. McCLANAHAN,

HAND STAMP.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 20 Hill.

Patented Oct. 22, 1918.

2 SHEETS-SHEET! {oo'oooo qpoc::]

Gwen/1043s W. O. BESAW & A. E. MCCLANAHAN.

HAND STAMP.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 20. 1317.

Patented Oct 2219181 2 SHEETSSHEET 2 W M M ITED STATE PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIE 0. BESAW AND ALLEN E. MGCLANAHAN, 0F REEDLEY, CALIFORNIA.

HAND-STAMP.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, WILLIE O. BESAW and ALLEN E. M CLANAHAN, citizens of the United States, residing at Reedley, in the county of Fresno, State of California, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Hand-Stamps; and we do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to new and useful improvements in hand stamps and aims to provide a device of this character adapted for use in stamping mail, with the figures designating the amount of postage required to transmit said mail, thus obviating the use dof postage stamps as at present practise A further object of the invention is to provide a hand stamp which can be set to stamp the desired amount of postage which may vary in specific cases.

A further. object of the invention is to provide novel means for setting the stamp to attain the above object.

A further object of the invention is to provide means whereby the stamp may be operated apredetermined number of times and when said predetermined number of operations has been completed, the machine is locked against further operation.

A further object of the invention is to provide in combination with a machine of this character a series of elements for dating, thus making the recordcon the mail of the date stamped.

Referring to the drawings:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of the complete device, a

Fig. 2 is a sectional view of the the line 22 of Fig. 1,

Fig. 3 is a vertical sectional view on the line 3-3 of Fig. 2,

Fig. 4 is a vertical sectional view on the line H of Fig. 2,

Fig. ,5 is adetail view,

I Fig. 6 is a detail view,

Fig. 7 is a detailview of a portion of th machine, and I t Fig. 8 is a detail view of the value strip used in connection'with the machine.

Referring more particularly to the drawings the reference character 1 designates a basewhi'ch is of substantially box-shape device on and has itsupper wall provided with spaced.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Oct. 22, 1918.

Application filed March 20, 1917. Serial No. 156,071.

openings 2 between which is mounted a vertically extending standard 3.

Slidably mounted upon the vertical standard is a hollow handle 4:, and arranged between the uper end of the vertical standard 3 and the outer wall of a hollow handle 4 is a coil spring 5. Secured to the hollow handle 4: and depending therefrom is an inverted U-shaped'member 6, the legs of which extend through the spaced opening 2 and lie within the confines of the inverted boxshape 1.

The lower end of the legs of the inverted U-shaped member 1 are provided with perforations 7 and mounted in said perforations 7 is a longitudinally extending shaft 8, one end of which is squared as at 9.

Mounted for rotation upon said shaft 8 are rolls 10 and 11, the roll 11, being be tween the depending legs of the inverted U-shaped member, while the roll 10 is between the side wall of the box and the adjacent leg of the member 6, the roll 10 being provided with abbreviations designating the months of the year and the roll 11 being provided with numerals to designate the days of the month, and mounted within the confines of the inverted U-shaped member 6 is a third roller 12 which carries characters designating different years. Each of these three rollers are manually operated to set them to the desired month, day and year.

Mounted adjacent the roller 12 and se cured to the shaft 8 in any suitable manner so that it will rotate therewith is a roller 13 which roller is provided with designating characters representing different values of postage, and rigidly secured to said roller is a ratchet member 14, the purpose of which will be hereinafter described.

Loosely mounted on the shaft 8 adjacent the roller 13 is a roller 15, the periphery of which is provided with a plurality of equally distant spaced teeth 16, and earned by said roller on opposite sides thereof are ratchet members 17 and 18. Carried by the roller 13 is a pawl 19 which is adapted to engage the ratchet member 17 to operate the toothed roller 15, and pivoted to the depending member of the inverted U-shaped member 6 is a pawl 20 which is adapted for engagement with the ratchet member 18 prevent the turning of the toothed roller in one direction. Having one of its'ends secured to the shaft 8 and its other end secur d o e of the rearwardly extending ber 6 is a coil spring 22 against the action of which the shaft'S is rotated.

Rigidly secured to the outer face of the side member of the inverted U-shaped member 1 is a spring 23, and swiveled on the lower end of said spring is an operating nut 24 having a squared opening 25, said opening being adapted for engagement withthe squared end of the shaft 8, to provide means for operating the same.

Extending rearwardly from the depending member 6 near the lower end thereof are brackets 21 and 26 which are connected by means of a transverse brace or the like 27, and overlying the bracket 26 is a second bracket 28 which is secured near the upper end of one of the side members of the inverted Ushaped member Secured to the bracket member 28 and extending transversely of the machine is a member 29 on which is secured a spool 30 by means of the set screw 31, and wound around said spool is a strip of paper which is provided with a plurality of equally distant spaced perforations 32, the said perforations 32 being adapted to engage the pins or teeth 16 of the toothed roller 15.

Secured in the depending members of the inverted iLi-SllZlPQd member 6 and overlying the rollers 12, 13 and 15 is a transversely extending shaft 33, and rigidly carried thereby is a pawl 34, the forward end of which is curved as at 35 to provide a depending member 36 adapted to engage the ratchet member HQ This pawl is extended rearwardly and is connected to the bracket 28 by means of a coil spring 37 which tends to lift the rear end of said pawl and maintain the forward end thereof in engagement with the ratchet member lei.

Loosely mounted on this transverse shaft 33 is a rearwardly extending pawl 38 which is adapted to contact with the perforated strip 31 for a purpose which will be hereinafter described.

Secured to the box-shape member 1 is a member 39 having a depending portion 10 which is adapted to engage the rear end of the pawl 3d to disengage its forward end from the ratchet member 14: during the operation of the machine.

The box shape member 1 is provided with a suitable opening to closed by a door 47 and secured in closed position by means of a seal 48.

Having thus described the invention, the operation thereof is as follows It is intended thatthe stamp be the property of the party using the same, and when it is desired to use the stamp, said party takes the same to the postofiice where he purchases a spool of perforated paper 31 which when the seal has been broken and the casing opened. is inserted on the spool tion, in which position it' is maintained-by means of theforward extremity of the pawl 3st engaging the ratchet member 14. This" operation also turns thetoothed roller" and discharges the paper strip 31 fromthema chine correspondingly, each of the openings 32 in said paper strip 41' re'presentii1g the" value of one penny. This toothed roller 15 is caused to rotate by reason-of the pawl engaging the ratchet" member 17 thereof, and this roller isprevented from turning. in a rearwardly direction 'by means of a pawl 20' engaging the ratclietjmemberflti."

When the rol1ers1, 11 and12 'havejbeen set to designate the month, day and" year,

the handle a is grasped andtheinverted shaped member 6 is depressed to contact'the' several rolls with the printing surface.

Upon depressionof the"'inverted U-shaped' member 6, the rear end of the pawl 343cm,

gages the dependingspringmembei' 10 and owing to the resiliency tliereof' passes the same freely. When the handle-4; is le pressed, however, the spring- 5 returns the inverted U-shaped memberj'S to noiflr'ini l position and the rear endofthepawl 34 en a es the spring member 40 thus releasing" the roller 18 andpermittingfthe"same to re turn to normal position under the influence of the coil spring 22';

From the foregoing it will be seen that,

the device is capable of use tostamp mail matter with any desiredamount of postage.

Near the inner end of thestrip 311s ro: vided an elongated slot 3&9 and when the strip has been exhausted the pawl 38' projects through said slot'and engagesone of the teeth 16 of the toothed roller l5'thus lock ing the machine against'further operation until the same has been taken to, the'p'ost office and reloaded with a spool of perforated paper.

These spools of perforatedipaper' are of difierent denominations and: can he pur chased as desired by' the holder'iof themechine and for example instead of buying-100 stamps, a roll of paper having 100perforations would be purchased and placedin the machine by the postmaster thus doing'away,

with stamps as is; the present 'prajct'id;

Thebox-shape member '1 may be provided on its lower extremities'with a rigidly at tached printingfelement 50 which is pre vided with designating characters 51 to indicate the postofiice at which the machine was loaded and other designating characters as desired.

Inking mechanism is provided which comprises an inkingpad 52 which is adapted to lie in engagement with the stamping rollers when in their elevated position as shown in Fig. 3. The roller 13 has arranged thereon a suitable stop 53 which is adapted to be engaged by the pawl 34: for limiting the re turn of said roller at zero position.

What is claimed is 1. A device of the character described comprising a base, an operating member carried by the base, a printing element carried by the operating member, means carried by the base for setting the printing element, means for retaining the printing element in set position, said retaining means adapted to be disengaged t release the printing element to permit the same to return to normal position upon operation of the machine.

2. In a device of the character described, a base, an operating element carried by the base, a printing member carried by the operating member, means for setting the printing element, means for retaining the element in its set position, means for feeding a strip of paper through the device, said means being operated by the setting operation of the printing element, and means limiting the paper feeding means to movement in one direction only.

3. A device of the character described comprising a base, an operating element carried by the base, printing elements carried by the operating element, means for setting one of said printing elements, means for retaining the printing element in its set position, means for returning the printing element in normal position upon operation of the operating element, means for feeding a strip of paper through the machine, said paper feeding means depending upon the setting operation of the printing element for its operation, and means for preventing movement of the paper feeding means upon resetting of the printing element.

4. A device of the character described comprising a' base, operating elements supported by the base, printing elements carried by the operating element, means for setting one of the printing elements, paper feeding means operated by the setting of the printing element, means for retaining the printmg element in set posltion, means operating to permit the prmting element to return to normal position, and means operatin to prevent movement of the paper fee ing means during the return of the printing ele ment to normal position.

5. A device of the character described comprising a base, an operating element carried by the base, printing elements carried by the operating elements, means for adjusting one of the printing elements, means for retaining said printing elements in adjusted position, and means for returning said adjusted printing elements to normal position upon operation of the machine.

6. A device of the character described comprising a base, an operating element carried by the base, a shaft carried by said operating element, a plurality of printing elements carried by the shaft, one of said printing elements being rigidly secured thereto, means for rotating the shaft to adjust said rigidly secured printing element, means for retaining the printing element in adjusted position, and means for permitting of said printing element returning to normal position upon operation of the machine.

7 A device of the character described comprising a base, an operating element movable with respect thereto, a shaft carried by said operating element, printing ele-i ments carried by the shaft, means engageable with the shaft for setting one of the printing elements carried thereby, means for maintaining said printing element in its set position, and means for releasing said printing element to permit of its returning to normal position upon operation of the operating element.

8. A device of the character described comprising a base, an operating element movable with respect thereto, printing elements carried by the operating element, means for adjusting one of the printing elements, means for retaining said adjustable printing element in its adjusted position, and means carried by the base for engagement with said printing element retaining means to disengage the latter and permit of the printing element returning to normal position upon the operation of the operating element.

In testimony whereof we aliix our signatures in the presence of two witnesses.

WILLIE O. BESAW. ALLEN E. McCLANA-HAN.

Witnesses AYLo KELLOGG, GAY Horson.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Phtents, Washington, D. G. 

